FIDE Candidates 2020
The FIDE Candidates 2020 will take place in Yekaterinburg, Russia from March 15 until April 5. Eight top grandmasters will contest in a double round-robin tournament for the right to challenge the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway). Participants: Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2842) – qualified as the Challenger of the World Championship match 2018 Ding Liren (CHN, 2805) – qualified as the finalist of the FIDE World Cup 2019 Wang Hao (CHN, 2758) – qualified as the winner of the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 Alexander Grischuk (RUS, 2777) – qualified as the winner of the FIDE Grand Prix 2019 Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS, 2774) – qualified as one of two top finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix 2019 Anish Giri (NED, 2763) – qualified by rating as the player with the highest average rating for 12 rating periods from February 2019 to January 2020 Kirill Alekseenko (RUS, 2704) – was given a wild card by the organizers Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2767) – replaced Teimour Radjabov as the highest-rated reserve player Schedule: Day 1 – ArrivalsDay 2 – Opening Ceremony & Technical MeetingDay 3 – Round 1Day 4 – Round 2Day 5 – Round 3Day 6 – Free dayDay 7 – Round 4Day 8 – Round 5Day 9 – Round 6Day 10 – Free dayDay 11 – Round 7Day 12 – Round 8Day 13 – Round 9Day 14 – Free dayDay 15 – Round 10Day 16 – Round 11Day 17 – Round 12Day 18 – Free dayDay 19 – Round 13Day 20 – Round 14Day 21 – Tie-breaks & Closing CeremonyDay 22 – Departures Full pairings: R 01 (March 17, 2020)Radjabov – CaruanaDing Liren – Wang HaoGiri – NepomniachtchiGrischuk – Alekseenko R 02 (March 18, 2020)Caruana – AlekseenkoNepomniachtchi – GrischukWang Hao – GiriRadjabov – Ding Liren R 03 (March 19, 2020)Ding Liren – CaruanaGiri – RadjabovGrischuk – Wang HaoAlekseenko – Nepomniachtchi R 04 (March 21, 2020)Caruana – NepomniachtchiWang Hao – AlekseenkoRadjabov – GrischukDing Liren – Giri R 05 (March 22, 2020)Giri – CaruanaGrischuk – Ding LirenAlekseenko – RadjabovNepomniachtchi – Wang Hao R 06 (March 23, 2020)Grischuk – CaruanaAlekseenko – GiriNepomniachtchi – Ding LirenWang Hao – Radjabov R 07 (March 25, 2020)Caruana – WangHao Radjabov – NepomniachtchiDing Liren – AlekseenkoGiri – Grischuk R 08 (March 26, 2020)Caruana – RadjabovWang Hao – Ding LirenNepomniachtchi – GiriAlekseenko – Grischuk R 09 (March 27, 2020)Alekseenko – CaruanaGrischuk – NepomniachtchiGiri – Wang HaoDing Liren – Radjabov R 10 (March 29, 2020)Caruana – Ding LirenRadjabov – GiriWang Hao – GrischukNepomniachtchi – Alekseenko R 11 (March 30, 2020)Nepomniachtchi – CaruanaAlekseenko – Wang HaoGrischuk – RadjabovGiri – Ding Liren R 12 (March 31, 2020)Caruana – GiriDing Liren – GrischukRadjabov – AlekseenkoWang Hao – Nepomniachtchi R 13 (April 02, 2020)Wang Hao – CaruanaNepomniachtchi – RadjabovAlekseenko – Ding LirenGrischuk – Giri R 14 (April 03, 2020)Caruana – GrischukGiri – AlekseenkoDing Liren – NepomniachtchiRadjabov – Wang Hao Players from the same federation play each other in earlier rounds: Ding Liren and Wang Hao will play each other in rounds 1 and 8; Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Kirill Alekseeko – in rounds 1, 2, 3 and 8, 9, 10. Regulations for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020 in PDF format